CD Reviews

Hard Honky Tonk from the Female Perspective

Kevin Fontenot | New Orleans, LA United States | 11/22/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Charline Arthur burned brightly and briefly in the 1950s. Her style had rockabilly overtones but she was best doing hard core honky tonk and with a voice that ranged sweet to rough, she did a good job in typically male genre. Her career never really took off due to several reasons, but it wasn't because of the music. "The Good with the Bad" is my favorite cut, a "talking" song with a vocal that goes from normal to gutteral as she changes mood. If you like straight up honky tonk, check Charline out. You won't be disappointed."

Very interesting

Dixie Diamond | Texas | 12/18/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First of all, I'm impressed with the sound quality of this recording. Excellent remastering job. She's not entirely to my taste but what she did, she did well and with a lot of spunk. I'd recommend this to anyone who is interested in rockabilly."

What about tomorrow ? I'll love Charline Arthur forever !

James D. Jones | DeFuniak Springs, FL USA | 03/08/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Charline Arthur had a bit of an edge to her voice,similar to Jean Shepard and Rose maddox with subtle nuances in the league of Patsy Cline.She sang and spoke with a rural Texas twang that singers of today just do not have.This is a really great disc.The sound quality is quite good.It also comes with a nice little booklet which contains a short biography,discography,and some great photographs of Charline,who had the biggest smile and cutest cowgirl duds you've ever seen. My favorites are,"What About Tomorrow","Just Look ,Don't Touch,He's Mine","Welcome To The Club","The Good And The Bad",and "Hello Baby"."

Yay!

Dixie Diamond | Texas | 04/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I didn't hear about Charline Arthur until PBS did the "Women in Rockabilly" special. Thank goodness somebody put together a CD! The sound quality on this is excellent and there are a lot of tracks. Definitely worth it!"

Very good old-time honky tonk

Arthur E. Schmid | San Bruno, Cal. | 06/26/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Charline Arthur was never a star; she never had a chance to be. She was one of these long-forgotten talented musicians that is fun to discover. She was at her best when she had the freedom to record & perform as herself, though she seldom was granted that. She was a fireball - hot tempered, hard drinking, action-seeking, sexual - so much so, that she was dropped by RCA music before she had the chance to hit her peak. That didn't stop her; she then hit the road, performing any place that would have her in the western U.S.,and generally living poorly. She seems to have influenced Patsy Cline, Wanda Jackson, and perhaps even Elvis, who was known to have admired her racy stage performances. Anyway, "Welcome to the Club" is a collection of 32 songs, her entire RCA recordings, plus a few others. She was from a time when country was country, not the era of dishwater-dull junk played on radio & CMT today. Strongly recommended for those who like the real thing."